From the Cola Wars to the Clean Water Wars?

Criticized by activists for their use of water around the world, both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have stepped up their efforts to promote sustainable water practices and reduce their own water usage.

Pepsi’s Nooyi

In its latest move, PepsiCo said it’s giving $8.5 million to Columbia University’s Earth Institute and actor Matt Damon’s H2O Africa Foundation to provide clean water to communities in Africa, India, China, and Brazil. The Earth Institute, director by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, will receive $6 million over three years from the PepsiCo Foundation to identify community-based activities and solutions to improve water access and productivity, PepsiCo says. PepsiCo will give Mr. Damon’s organization $2.5 million over the next 12 months for on-the-ground water projects in Niger, Mali, Senegal, and other African countries. Important to PepsiCo is to fund water projects and activities that can be scaled and replicated in other communities, a company spokeswoman says.
The announcement came as the World Economic Forum in Davos gets underway formally tomorrow. PepsiCo’s chairman and chief executive, Indra Nooyi, is a co-chair of this year’s meeting, which is expected to focus, among other things, on the world’s growing thirst for – and shortage of – clean water. Seven panels are planned involving water issues. Ms. Nooyi plans to highlight PepsiCo’s new investment and call other companies to action, according to a spokeswoman.

The Purchase, N.Y., snack and soda giant’s new water investment reflects Ms. Nooyi’s growing interest in involving PepsiCo in global efforts to reach the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight targets ranging from reducing extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. The goals include a pledge to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to drinking water and basic sanitation. Born and raised in India, Ms. Nooyi has seen and experienced many of the day-to-day challenges posed by a lack of abundant clean water.

“Water sits at the nexus of so many challenges – global health through disease transmission, increasing hunger through poor agricultural practices, and even education as children in water-scarce economies are often charged with walking miles to collect water from a distant well instead of attending school,” Ms. Nooyi said in a statement. “Without clean water, none of the other fundamentals leading to a healthy and prosperous life are possible.”

The new money adds to efforts PepsiCo already has underway sponsoring community water projects, where both Coke and Pepsi have been accused of contributing to water shortages. PepsiCo also funds programs to conserve water used for agriculture in those countries. Coke and its bottlers have launched 120 projects in 50 countries over the past couple of years, Coke says. A report released last week by a nonprofit organization in India found Coke generally in compliance with government environmental standards for water use there but concluded that the company needs to do more to help improve local water supplies. – Betsy McKay